This invention relates to poured concrete wall forms, and more particularly, to hardware for connecting and positioning the various opponents of poured concrete wall forms.
It is well known in the art to use prefabricated reusable panel units to construct a wall form for a poured concrete wall. Typically, a pair of spaced generally parallel wall forms are constructed from a plurality of individual panels. The individual panels are connected together with various attachment hardware to construct the wall form. After the spaced wall forms are constructed, concrete is poured between the wall forms and allowed to cure or harden at which time the wall forms, panels and associated hardware are disassembled, collected and transported to another site for reuse. Typically, a panel used in constructing a wall form is approximately 8' high and 2' to 3' in width. The individual panels each include a marginal frame projecting rearwardly from a back face of the panel to include a flange along the spaced side edges and top and bottom edges of the panel. The side flanges are adapted to be positioned in a face-to-face relationship with the flange of an adjacent panel for connection therewith to construct a concrete wall form. Holes in the side flanges of the adjacent panels can be aligned to receive therethrough the shank of a pin or a bolt. The bolt or pin may pass through the ends of tie rods and are held in position commonly by wedges which project through a slot in the shank of the bolt or pin. The tie rods serve an important function by maintaining the spaced wall forms at a predetermined distance so that the resulting poured concrete wall is of a uniform thickness, shape and configuration.
Due to the wide variety of architectural plans and construction designs, individual wall form panels of various sizes are frequently used in combinations to construct an appropriately configured wall form. Typically, panels having a width of 12" or less are called fillers and are often used with other "standard" size panels to construct a wall form.
Commonly, poured concrete walls are used to construct the foundation or basement of a residential house or other building. Typically, 8' high panels have been used to construct the wall forms for such a basement or foundation. However, frequently a filler panel of typically 12" in width is laid on its side atop the top edge of the wall form panels as a cap panel to provide a 9' high wall form. The extended height wall form and resulting poured concrete wall are commonly required for an elevated ceiling in the basement or extra head room to conceal duct work, wiring, plumbing or the like without diminishing the 8' high ceiling in the basement or foundation.
In the construction of a concrete wall form, a large quantity of hardware is necessary to connect the adjacent panels together. This situation is further complicated when a filler panel is positioned atop a standard 8' wall form to provide an 9' high wall. Furthermore, the wall forms are commonly constructed in excavated areas such as ditches and trenches with basement or below ground floor of a commercial building. As such, the work space for constructing the wall form and for the workers to maneuver and manipulate the associated hardware and panels is extremely tight and limited.
Therefore, the installation of the attachment hardware for the various panel configurations must be convenient, easily performed and require a minimal amount time and effort. The cost of labor and materials, therefore, has a significant impact upon the effectiveness of the wall form panel and attachment hardware designs.
The attachment hardware commonly used to secure adjacent panels in a side-by-side relationship cannot be used for securing an upper cap panel or filler panel atop the standard 8' high panels because of the orientation and configuration of the holes, pins and the like. Nevertheless, off-the-shelf products are often used in an attempt to secure the upper cap panel, and these techniques and attachment schemes often prove to have limited success. As a result, the upper cap panel may waiver or become misaligned with respect to the lower panels or with respect to the opposing wall form. Commonly, a 2'.times.4' or other member spanning the wall forms is clamped or secured to the upper flange of the cap member with a C-clamp or the like and the lower flange of the cap member and the upper flange of the panel are likewise clamped or otherwise secured together. However, this often proves to be a very time consuming and problematic operation for the workers.
Therefore, there exists a need in the industry for an attachment mechanism for coupling an upper cap panel onto a wall form and accurately and securely maintaining the cap panel in position relative to the opposite wall form, all of which is easily and conveniently installed and disassembled by the workers in the field.